investigators are trying to figure out what touched off a fire that claimed three lives this morning. the scene is the 9600 block of haggle circle. we're live at the scene with more information. >> reporter: well, witnesses tell us a young mother and two of her children are dead this morning after a terrifying and

desperate scene here at this terrace town home this morning. it started around 8:30. the fire was raging. neighbors heard screaming. they heard what sounded like explosions. they saw a man who looked to be in shock kind of writhing on the ground. that was probably the children's uncle who caught the baby as the mother threw that baby, a baby under one year old, threw the child out the window. the uncle catches the baby. the mother goes and tells two other children ages 6 and 8 to jump out a second floor window. they jump. they're okay. they go to a neighbor's house. and they all hope that the mother's going to come out. and the two other children come out but that doesn't happen. the fire is too strong and the mother and two children do not make it out. the mother cannot save herself or her two other children. [ indiscernible ]

>> anything. >> watch and wait for everybody to come. that was the hard part. and i knew that the kids were still in there. i knew the kids were still in there. [ indiscernible ] >> i asked him where are they at and he said they're still in the house. and we couldn't do anything. [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: such desperation from those neighbors who sat there and watched that townhouse just be engulfed in flames and to know that the young mother and two of her children were inside and they could not rescue them. they could got get inside to get them out. and the uncle beside himself he couldn't help either. now the three children, the baby and the two other children that did survive were brought into a neighbor's house. they took care of them until the children and the uncle were taken to a hospital. perhaps suffering from smoke inhalation. but an incredible scene here this morning. of course the fire marshal is on the scene going through that townhouse to figure out what

could have started this blaze. they're going to be looking at whether the town home had sprinklers or not. we're hearing they didn't have sprinklers. we haven't heard officially. they're going to find out whether or not there were smoke detectors and whether they were working or not. this is something that these neighbors here and also the children who survived and the uncle will remember and just a desperate scene. this family's going to need a lot of help. it looks to me that the neighbors here are going to be willing of course to help the family. but we'll have more on this story coming up this afternoon beginning at 5:00. live in lornton. such a sad story grilling about changes they have made since they were linked to this summer's massive recall. at least 1600 people were sickened with salmonella from tainted eggs. >> reporter: the owner of an iowa company at the center of

this summer's massive egg recall is ready to tell congress and the public he's sorry and was horrified to learn his eggs may have made thousands of people sick. he has been called before a house panel looking into the august recall of a half a billion eggs. lawmakers want to know what changes his company has made since the nation's largest salmonella outbreak. the fda investigation hasn't turned up a specific cause for the outbreak, but agency experts found evidence that the salmonella strain that made thousands sick was present at hillen dale and wright county egg, a company that supplies them. it's no stranger to bats battles with the government. he's paid millions in state and federal fines over years for health, safety, immigration and environmental violations at his farm. after the recall fda inspectors visited both locations.

during those visits they found live rodents and mice at both farms. at wright county egg they found manure piled so deep it leaking through a building's foundation. and at both locations they found maggots and countless files. the head of wright county egg will tell the panel his company made huge security and food safety changes after the recall and plans to remove chickens that haven't been vaccinated against the strain of salmonella linked to this summer's outbreak. joel brown, cbs news, washington. >> federal officials say for every case of salmonella that is reported there may be as many as 30 others that go unreported. sky 9 was over the scene of a tractor-trailer accident in howard county, maryland. traffic is flowing again but this is the scene at 5:30 this morning in the westbound lanes of interstate 70. the driver was taken to the hospital as a precaution. no one else was injured.

barring action from president obama 41-year-old teresa lewis will be put to death tomorrow by the commonwealth of virginia. lewis was convicted for paying and providing sex in exchange for the murders of her husband and stepson. she pleaded guilty in 2003. the trigger men in the case got life sentences. lewis' appeal was rejected yesterday by the u.s. supreme court. we now know the name of the woman murdered outside her prince george's county apartment. neighbors say the woman was moving out of her old apartment on green belt road into a home that she had just purchased. it is believed that her killer attacked her when she returned to the apartment to move things. at this point her killer is still on the loose. movers are coming to the rescue of a woman evicted from her apartment. her items took up several blocks of a neighborhood in northwest washington. the center of it all 11th

street and otis place in the columbia heights area. chris ten fisher is live to tell us exactly what's going on now. >> reporter: you know, we've heard so much recently about foreclosures and evictions. but it's another thing to really see it. for this one woman in columbia heights, this is all of her stuff. we've got clothes, make up bags, cleaning products, it's all just spread out on the sidewalks for all the world to see. >> it is not fair. it's not human. it's cold heart. >> reporter: at 5:00 a.m. she is beyond devastated. the 50-year-old woman from venezuela had just been evicted from her home and her stuff was just hours away from being shipped off to the city dump. just to give you an idea of how much stuff we're talking about, it is stacked up on the sidewalk in some places six feet high and it's like this all the way down this block of 11th street.

if you walk with me you can see across the street it's the exact same thing. piles and piles and piles of stuff all belonging to the same person. >> she's obviously sick. hording is a disease right? and this is definitely signs of hording. >> reporter: she says she is no horder. she says she was collecting all of this stuff to send back to poor people in latin america. but some of her neighbors don't buy it. do you feel at all bad for her? >> no. i don't. people say she was sending this stuff back to her country and stuff like this. i don't know how true that is. but the fact of the matter is don't make no sense for somebody to horde like this. it don't. clog up the whole neighborhood. i think it's ridiculous. >> reporter: other neighbors are more sympathic. >> i think it's a tragedy how much the system's not working for people. she's been living next door to us for the last six or seven years. and she's always been working. so for it to come to this it's a tragedy. >> reporter: a tragic tale of eviction or that of a chronic

horder. either way her white knight arrived in the form of a free moving truck and storage unit. do you think all this stuff is going to fit? >> not in this truck, no. we got a couple more on the way. we have back up on the way. >> i'm feeling blessed. thank you, lord. >> reporter: one of those moving trucks is already loaded up. it's completely full. movers are now working on filling her stuff into the second van. and they're expecting a third one. that's what it will take. three big moving vans to fill all of her stuff. now that's how her stuff's doing. good news there. she though does not yet have a place to stay. they're working on that right now. but she's already gotten a job. she's going to be taking care of a gentleman's grandmother who heard about her story, felt bad for her so he offered her a job. so some good news to come out of what could have been a very,

very sad story. with his back against the wall, a man surrounded by police takes his chances by jumping off a bridge. it's all caught on tape. plus a local stylist takes her haircuts to new york's biggest fashion event as well as needy women halfway around the world. we'll be back.

in tulsa, oklahoma, a

bizarre end to the search for a missing girl. and it was all caught on tape. a friend of the girl's father took the child out of her elementary school. police later found the 8-year- old safe and with her father. the father ran to a railroad bridge and he kept police in a standoff for more than two hours. the standoff ended when he jumped into the river. police quickly got him out of the water. and it turns out the father had several outstanding warrants. eight current and former city officials of bell, california, is set to be arraigned in court today. the group including the ex-city manager, mayor, and several council members were arrested on tuesday in a multimillion dollar corruption scandal. they are accused of taking massive salaries and obtaining illegal personal loans. coming up next, howard in the forecast. and got some evening plans,

maybe late afternoon soccer or baseball with the kids. pay attention. we have a chance of storms. break down of the allergy upat a time and the weeds. ragweed season coming up again in the moderate category. everything else is low. i'll have the seven-day forecast when we return.

fashion week in new york city is the industry's largest event. it attracts top designers, models and fashion istas. it just ended but not before a d.c. businesswoman got a chance in a lifetime to put her items on the big apple cat walk. we have behind the scenes action. >> it's the super bowl of hair. >> reporter: but at this super bowl they have a different type of gridiron. >> we're going to iron the hair

out. crimp it. >> reporter: diane owns two beauty salons and spas in d.c. and green belt, maryland. >> beautiful face shape, eyes and our designer will love it. >> reporter: will you love it? >> oh, yes. >> reporter: designer of project runway finalist hand picked diane to style the models showcasing her new spring collection. >> i'm just showing the same vision and hair i have in my clothes, lots of volume, fabric, folding. that's where women are. diane is equally at home there. a few years ago she taught 300 poor women how to style hair and earn a living. >> it's a basic necessity. it's actually eating daily. it's actually having their child educated. >> reporter: next spring diane

is going back to sear a leone. >> each woman will have three months worth of product she can start her own business. >> reporter: she does similar work in the metro d.c. area mentoring young girls through her cinderella foundation. >> then we start building self- esteem. we need our girls strong and smart. >> reporter: diane is very excited about some of the things she's learn and seen here at fashion week. she's trying to transmit that knowledge to the girls who are part of the cinderella foundation. in new york city. >> congratulations to them. you can see a one on one tour of one designer's collection and you can get some tips from a project runway finalist. the bonus interview is on our website at wusa9.com. it's in district news. just look under the news tab on our home page and click on

local news. good afternoon. fall begins tonight at 11:09. doesn't feel like it. it's summer-like out there. upper 80s by 3:00, mid-80s at 6:00. thunderstorms in a few spots later this afternoon. by 9:00 holding onto 80. the muggies are back. in fact right now 81 with the air quality code yellow 88 to 93 in the metro. maybe 95 places like winchester. partly cloudy. an early shower. where it rains have a threat of patchy fog overnight. lows in the 60s to low 70s with light wind. 7:05 on sunset. tomorrow another unseasonably hot and humid day with a few storms in the afternoon. and like today going 88 to 93. satellite and radar a few clouds up here with showers and storms. still plenty of sunshine and temperatures have really skyrocketed especially in the valley. 91 in west virginia. near the bay southerly winds,

only 81 in easton. 85 at the naval air station. and washington d.c. we've got 81. cull pepper by the way was already 88. mostly sunny out there. the dew point of 67. we have a heat index of 83. i thought we were done with the heat index for the year. no. we're going to have it today, tomorrow and friday as well. winds are south at 11. we've hit 90 63 times. today will be 64. potentially 66 by friday. the record is 67. showers and storms coming out of the great lakes. one severe thunderstorm watch box back toward minnesota and wisconsin -- minnesota and iowa at this hour. with this front driving south and east that's helping to fire the showers and storms with upper energy coming across this very hot air mass. we have the threat from southern new england right through the metro for severe storms. i'm talking eastern part of the west virginia panhandle. most of the maryland except for down in st. mary's county.

damaging wind gusts and small hail if they get strong enough. we'll watch this from mid to late afternoon. go through 6:00 and you see a few spots of green showing up. sort of like boiling water. bubbles coming just not sure where. we'll watch the doppler closely this afternoon. we quiet down overnight. and then tomorrow we're going to watch it one more time with the heat and humidity. there we go with a few more thunderstorms developing. by the time we get to friday looks like there will be less of a trigger. still very hot. low if not mid-90s across the region. there's our front. that's going to change things for the weekend. temperatures this afternoon they are going to soar. winchester 95. 92 cumberland and lower 80s in annapolis. our seven-day forecast it's hot through friday. again, watch out for storms this afternoon. topper will have the latest through the afternoon fall tonight 11:09. saturday cooling down to around 84. should be a good day. sunday a chance for a shower or two in the afternoon. and even monday as well.

cool down back to more normal levels in the upper 70s. that's your weather. we'll go to the kitchen with 9 news now returns.

(announcer) new icy hot power gel. relief that's icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. and no mess. new icy hot power gel. don't mess around with pain. fall formally begins tonight. so it's time for us to turn our attention to the fall season. guess what? we have some fabulous local apples in the area. and my chef today is rsvp catering executive chef gregg greenburg. he's going to do an apple dish. actually, an apple truffle vessel. a mouthful with sort of a twist

on the classic trifle. >> that's right. >> okay. >> what we have here we're going to start with a homemade caramel. >> homemade. >> then start with that and i'm going to add a little bit of pound cake is fine. if you have some yellow cake. juice and things around the house. and then put that in. and then a little bit of simple syrup. >> that's okay. >> it's just sugar and water and maybe a little vanilla. bring it to a boil and let it simmer and reduce. what you're going to do is top off this syrup with a little pastry cream. you're creating the levels with the trifle. >> okay. >> the thing about trifle it's really just layered cake with sauce and berries. >> and i said apple truffle and it's really apple trifle. >> we're going to put the apples in first.

>> okay. >> and then you're going to top that off with a little whip cream. >> now the recipe i say this every day is on our website at wusa9.com, but my goodness the way you do it it's absolutely beautiful and lovely. and i'd like to show off some of the other desserts that you brought for us. i tasted this because it matched my outfit. these are marshmallows covered in green sugar. what are these? >> these are fruit tarts. apple crumb, pumpkin, almond cranberry. >> and over here. >> these are seasonal pet fores. we have a chocolate hazel nut. am thirst macaroon. >> is it rude for me to chew while you're talk something. >> not at all. >> this is so good. tell me, how long has rsvp catering been in business?

>> we've been in business for over 22 years. >> with a reputation that goes with it. of course if you want fabulous, fabulous food you'll call them. thanks for being with us chef. thank you for being with us. come back and join us at 5:00. and happy fall. bye.